Chapter 290: Opposing Sides
At those words, Ji Song, who had been sitting before Li Zhu's coffin, snapped suddenly awake.
He pushed himself painfully off the ground with both hands and stood, sweeping his murky gaze around the room in a hoarse voice, "Who is there?"
The mourning hall breathed with a faint draft, the white funeral cloth drifting, and that distant voice rose slowly with it, "There is no need for Minister Ji to know who I am. Only answer my question."
At those words, Ji Song stopped searching for the figure and let his stooped body draw itself slightly upright. He looked toward the entrance of the mourning hall and said, "Do you also have a grudge against the Eighth Prince?"
"I have no grudge against him."
The voice spoke with calm indifference, then said quietly, "However, there are far too many people whose position stands opposed to his. More than could ever be counted."
At those words, Right Minister Ji Song's expression of grief, which had been written plainly across his sunken face, began gradually to settle.
After a long moment, a sudden gleam of sharpness flashed in those otherwise dim eyes, and he seemed to come back to himself. He murmured, "These past days of grief have dulled my mind entirely."
Then, as though speaking to the empty air, he asked, "What do you want with me?"